WITH panto season edging closer, more members of the Anvil's Sleeping Beauty cast have hinted at what to expect this year, promising aerial theatrics this Christmas.
As previously reported, this year, The Anvil will bring the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty to Basingstoke, with Outnumbered's Tyger Drew-Honey appearing as the Prince.
Having previously chatted with the Prince and Lester the Jester, the Gazette caught up with Cbeebies star Joanna Adeyinka-Burford and Jenny O'Leary, who are bringing fairy magic to the show.
Jenny is starring as the wicked fairy, Carabosse, and spoke about how she feels like royalty in her costume.
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She said: "I love my costume, it's brand new, it's very green and regal, and green is my favourite colour to wear so I am thrilled, very happy, very sparkly, moderately evil."
Joanna, who is playing Fairy Snowfall, added: "Mine is also very sparkly, very snowflakey, I love it.
Joanna: "This is our first time meeting one another, I met Chris (Pizzey) last week but it's the first time the fairies are meeting and it's lovely.
"I want to do a costume trade one day."
Jenny joked: "We'll trade hats. When my head hurts or I need a break, we can swap."
The pair hinted at what readers can expect to see from their performances.
Jenny said: "I'm the evil fairy Carabosse) - the Maleficent character from Disney - but slightly different within panto land.
"I'm just like the jilted, evil fairy who just wants all the good things for herself - including the prince - and doesn't like Sleeping Beauty."
Joanna replied: "And I come to save the day. I'm the heroine."
Neither of them have previously played a fairy before, and they explained how they can't wait to try out the practical effects that come with the role.
Jenny remarked: "I've played Spirit of the Ring before, which is kind of a fairy part but I've not played a mythical creature so it's my first time and I'm looking forward to it.
"Apparently we're flying, that should be interesting."
Joanna added: "I'm looking forward to flying, it will be nice to be a fairy in the air. There are a lot of practical effects."
Both explained how they hadn't previously performed at the Anvil before, and are looking forward to the challenge.
Jenny said: "I think the Anvil is lovely, I'm really impressed with the concert acoustics. It's very nice to not be in a dead-air-space playhouse, it's really big and quite new and modern.
"The team seem really lovely which is great."
Joanna added: "I'll echo that. I grew up about 45 minutes away from Basingstoke and we used to come to the shopping centre here, but I've never been to the Anvil theatre so it will be a real treat to be here, quite close to where I grew up.
Known for her work a s a presenter on CBeebies, Joanna explained how she enjoys entertaining youngsters.
She said: "I love performances for children. Working on CBeebies we don't often get to meet our audience because we are in the studio, however, when we do live events and panto, it is a good opportunity to meet the audience and it is so wonderful to meet the young people who love the channel."
Jenny explained how she is no stranger to playing the villain, and embraces the audience's sneers and boos.
She said: "I've played evil plenty of times, I'm quite adept, I think it's the dark eyebrows that give me away."
In contrast, Joanna said: "I usually play the princess role, I've never played the baddy role either which is something I'd like to do someday."
Jenny responded: "Have you not? It's quite satisfying to get booed. Not for your performance, nobody wants that, but for your character."
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